Here at greenlight for girls, we’re thrilled to be a part of something big… something exciting… something that will surely make some noise! A strong partnership with greenlight for girls and Cisco has led us to this day when we could not be more proud to announce the first ever g4g Day event in Spain in the charming city of Barcelona this Spring!

On April 25th, the 5th annual g4g Day@Southcoast was hosted by the Kaput Center for Research & Innovation in STEM Education at UMass Dartmouth. A day of science and technology for girls aged 10-15 brought 150 students from SouthCoast schools and each young greenlight girls got to attend two workshops for the day out of a number of cool themes that make us wonder… how do they manage to choose only two?! Workshops included:“Math in How You Move”; “Imagineering Engineering”; “Engineering a Robot to Solve a Rubik’s Cube”...

What can we do to encourage more girls to enter the world of Information and Communication Technology? Girls should be able to experience the IT world first hand, in an interactive work environment – to be able to see, touch, hear and be inspired by the possibilities their future holds – and it all begins at an early age.

We have learned that inspiration has no limits. Once again, our scholarship girls in India have shared with us their passion for learning and for science - so much, it makes us wish we were university students again too!

In January this year, we had an amazing opportunity with our greenlight children in India....

Houses full of candies, leaves on the ground, shorter days… there is no doubt that autumn is here – but while days are short, we are making the most of them. So, what did this month bring to the g4g team?

On October 6, the whole g4g team gathered in Barcelona: Melissa, Alex, Lucy, Loredana and Marie joined the fantastic Cisco Partners in Spain (thank you David & Raquel!) to host the second g4g Day @Barcelona in three years. 200 girls spent the whole day immersed in STEMtastic workshops and enjoyed the presence of so many role models from our 16 partners: T-systems, Indra, BBVA, Procter & Gamble, Simon, Nexica, La Salle, Comstor, Cisco, IQS, Blanquerna, Submon, Robotix, CRG, Talent Up, HP/ HP Aruba. In addition to some Wify Magic and slime making, girls tested out the science behind their 5 senses, went to explore Mars, discovered the marine environment, fought the cyberspace and yes of course, they also came up with our signature DNA necklaces. The days wouldn’t have been the same without the presence of all our fantastic guest speakers: Dra Guiomar Corral from La Salle Universitat, Joana Barbany and Neus Lorenzo from Generalitat de Catalunya, Xavier Massa, from Cisco Barcelona, Melissa Rancourt, our very own g4g founder and special messages from our great sponsors, Rosa María Rodríguez Curto from T-systems and Elisenda Escofet from Indra. Thank you so much to all of them!

On October 9, Alex packed robotics kits and snap circuits and headed over to the European Parliament for an afternoon on tech discovery with Public Libraries 2020 for the 2018 Generation Code! The girls had the opportunity to delve into cutting-edge technology, meet with local officials, have an insider's look around the Parliament building and engage with the different STEM exhibitions (3D printing, coding, programming, etc.). As a bonus, they also had a chat with a 3D unicorn and the robot Zora from Muntpunt library and built robots with Julie Ward Member of the European Parliament! A huge thank you to Public Libraries 2020 for helping us hosting such a fun day!

Between October 8-13, g4g joined effort with Covestro to organize a five-day event in Mumbai for the #STEM4GirlsFestival2018! Amazing guest speakers took turn to inspire the 1200 girls through this 5 days event: Dr. Juergen Morhard - Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Brinda Miller, artist and mentor, Harpreet A de Singh, President of the IWPA (Indian Women Pilots Association), Dr. Pallavi Deshmukh, Scientist at Covestro India, Brinda Miller, Educator, Director of Studio Millenium and honorary Executive Committee Member of the Kala Ghoda Association, Dr. Swati Patankar, professor at IIT Bombay in the Biosciences and Bioengineering department. And all of this is just the beginning! Look out for news as we continue our g4g STEMFestival travels to 4 more cities reaching even more amazing young women!

On Alex’s birthday (yes you read that right!), October 18, the Brussels team rode to London to meet the wonderful Sarah from AIG and host our second g4g/AIG Design Hackathon at the Southbank Center. This year, 85 inventors from all backgrounds and aged 11-15 had one challenge: Design inventions that better their daily life at home, at school or in their community for a specific person of their choosing. Between a robot that could take plastic trash away, door screens preventing burglary, scanning fridges, levitating beds, floating wheelchairs, smart suits for firefighters and a system preventing water wasting, these girls fought on every level to make the world a better place. We were all so astonished by their ingenuity, imagination and creativity that the judges had a really hard time attributing the grand prize! A big thank you to Geoff Godwin, AIG Chief Operating Officer for agreeing to be our guest speaker and judge of the day, as well as to Domino Pateman from the Southbank Centre, for judging all these exciting projects. Buckle up everyone, these kids are ready to take the world by storm!

Two days after this exciting design thinking challenge, Marie joined Loredana in Spain for our first event with Amazon, helped by the amazing teams over there led by Ariadna and Gloria! On October 20, 40 girls came to the amazon facilities in Madrid for an exciting g4g @work event! In addition to the traditional lab coat customization and the exciting workshops the team had come up with (coding, robotics and DNA necklaces!), they all got the chance to explore the huge amazon warehouse and discover how the packages were prepped for and shipped. Yes, the label maker was a big hit. Yes, learning that the labels are glued thanks to potatoes even more! A massive thanks to Alexandra Sierra, Amazon Prime Now Site leader, for leading such a fun and interactive opening ceremony!

Since we couldn’t simply stop after such a hit, Marie and Lore met again in Barcelona, one week after, for another g4g @work with Amazon, this time in Barcelona! Indeed, on October 27 another group of 40 girls got the chance to visit the biggest amazon warehouse in Spain! In addition to some signature g4g workshops, the girls also raced in an epic marshmallow/spaghettis challenge. An impressive tower of almost 40 cm took the trophy home!

The same day, Lucy and Nikki were hosting our October makerspace in Brussels. Thanks to Stanley Black & Decker’s help, 30 kids got the opportunity to visit our atelier and design the homes of tomorrow. Using their trusty glue guns and some coding skills they came up with pretty innovative solutions to today’s problems. Wanna see?

Finally, on October 31 Andrea took Halloween as a great opportunity to, once again, make the science of everyday life come alive in a classroom with a new and improved Trick or Treat Science! Motivated teachers + excited kids + the international day of candies + fun hands-on STEM workshops = a new g4g in the classroom in Pine Bush, NY full of inquiry, discovery, teamwork, learning, and FUN! It just might be possible that the teachers enjoyed the day as much as, or maybe even more than, the students… and of course, the chance to enjoy some candy while learning is always a bonus!

My name is Maja, I’m 14 years old and since recently I am a g4g ambassador, here in Poland. My history with g4g is quite simple :) I was informed about the first event in my hometown of Krakow four years ago by my friend when she invited me to go with her. Since then, I have attended all 4 events (FOUR!), each year, and it’s something that I look forward to for the whole year.

This year I was really interested in all that goes on “behind the scenes” of the events and I really think that next year I want to attend the event but… to have a different role! I hope to be a volunteer, so I can pass on my passion for STEM! I am mostly interested in Chemistry and Biology and would love to teach a workshop on these subjects.

g4g has really inspired me and showed me that even though there are some difficulties and challenges, there is always a way to overcome them, and be whoever you want to be in the future!

I think It’s important that everyone realizes that they are capable of anything as long as they have passion, determination, and are ready to do everything to make it work … because really… ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

That’s Melissa and me, 4 years ago during our first event in Krakow! Yes, I still have my labcoat :)

New partnerships

BSU and g4g have been working together for a few years now, and we are thrilled to announce that an official global partnership has now been established. In true g4g spirit, we will continue encouraging girls in STEM with exciting g4g Days @BSU, but in addition we are thinking of mentorship programs, internship programs, training for teachers… and so much more!

With Amazon, we are incredibly excited to launch two events in October: registrations are now open for Madrid on Oct. 20 and in Barcelona on Oct. 27! What will we be doing? Well, we’re getting a first-hand peek at the Amazon robotics in their distribution centres as well as meet inspiring Amazon team members. Register now and stay tuned for more!

Sprinting into September with 5 g4g events

Within the short time spa of a few weeks, we flew from one end of the world to another – and held three events in Belgium, one in Poland and one in Brazil. Whew! Our arms are tired. (That’s called a “Dad joke”).

On Sept. 15, we kicked-off things with Stanley Black & Decker for our g4g@work in Tessenderlo, Belgium. The team headed to the largest Distribution Centre for Stanley – where 35 enthusiastic and excited kids were ready to see and use the SBD tools & equipment. The Mayor of Tessenderlo, Mr. Fons Verwimp, joined our Welcome Ceremony – and then the students dived into the science fun. On the menu today wasyummy polymer worms made of honey, ketchup and berries (and yes, some decided to mix all three flavours into one…. Maybe this wasn’t SO yummy). They then made a copper chandelier in the very cool Stanley Black & Decker tool room. Our favourite quote of the day? Upon entering the company, we loved hearing one young girl exclaim, “I can’t wait to see where Mommy works!”

Next, Alex and Marie joined the g4g Poland team for the 4th g4g Day@Krakow with Cisco and so many incredible partners! 145 girls aged 10-15 joined us for a full day of STEM discovery. At the AGH University, the girls explored interactive and tech-filled workshops such as “Design thinking with Harry Potter”, “Cars of the future”, “Robot Turtles Coding Game” … Intrigued?! Have a look at our photo album here and be ready, more photos to come soon!

This month at Euroclear, Brussels Giving Day was held – and the g4g team was invited to lead a unique event for a group of 10 girls. Deborah and Alex, accompanied by the Euroclear team, brought the girls to take a look around the Euroclear office before starting experimenting DNA extraction, robotics and snap circuits with fun hands-on workshops!

On Sept. 25 & 26, one of our g4g Board Members, Sarah Thomas, joined the incredible g4g Brazil team led by our g4g Country Manager, Kelly Torres. Held in the mountains of Ouro Branco, this is our 5th g4g Day at the University UFSJ. And what's more incredible - this event reaches 350 girls in the area! These future scientists and engineers had the chance to meet incredible role models throughout this 2-day event. The Opening Ceremony brought forward our #SuperScientists PhD Kelly Torres, PhD Regina Pinto, PhD Natália Landin and PhD Érica Gravina, before heading to the hands-on workshops. Our signature DNA extraction workshop fascinated the girls (“What? Wait… I can SEE my DNA in a test tube?!”). And they studied the MOON! Yes, the workshop about Astronomical Observation allowed the girls to observe Venus, Mars, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and its 4 moons: Europa, Ganímedes, Io and Calisto! In addition to the Astronomical Observation, girls experienced physics first-hand, made paper helicopters, created a celestial chart, and made crystals, vulcano and minerals from scratch!

Finally, at the very end of this month, we held our first makerspace of the season. This time around, kids put their design thinking caps on and thought about… what the future for homes look like? After designing and drawing their ideas to think about improvements, new technologies and better sustainability, they brought them to life by building models of their inventions using microbits. Ideas were plentiful and we can’t wait to see if the homes of 2030 will indeed have any walls that move to face the sun, foldable walls, underwater features, detachable rooms or scanning fridge…!

In a few words: September was captivating! Our book bags are now definitely full with new knowledge – but there is always room for more!Are you ready for October? WE ARE! Look out for g4g events in Belgium, Spain, UK, US and India.

My name is Déborah, I’m 22 years old and since completing my internship at greenlight for girls earlier this year, I’ve been working as a project coordinator with g4g for the past few months at their HQ in my hometown, Brussels. As I just graduated university, I’m now heading off on other adventures and have to leave g4g behind (for now).

When I started looking for an internship at the beginning of last academic year, I was scared not to find anything because of my pickiness. I figured I shouldn’t apply for something I wasn’t really interested in anyway and only sent very few applications. One of them was to greenlight for girls. A look through the website convinced me that this would be both a great place and a great cause to work for. Fast forward to my last days working at g4g, I’m glad it did, glad I was chosen and… glad I was picky.

This is me in High-School. See… I already had a white labcoat!

Although I studied communications, I have always loved to learn new things and g4g allowed me to learn on different levels. Aside from the communication and project management side, I got to learn a lot about STEM too. In a way, I also got to be a “greenlight girl”.

During makerspaces, I taught the girls how to make slime, water rockets, racing robots…!

By now, I have attended a few g4g events, both in Brussels and in other locations, and have seen so many girls being inspired, ready to go off and become scientists. One of my favourite events was the g4g Day @Frankfurt with AIG, because I was involved in the organizational process, making it extra special to see it come to life. As many of you know, the g4g events are great, but what I’m most amazed at is the team behind these events. I have been part of an incredible team that makes seemingly impossible things happen, hands a solution to every problem, but above all a team with a big heart, each member passionate about what they are doing. This passion is what makes the events so wonderful, what makes the girls leave with a smile.

That’s me, teaching a DNA workshop!

Throughout all the years we spend at school a lot of people have a lot of opinions. Parents, teachers, other kids… My advice for all the girls out there is to try to listen to themselves. Some people may think you are not able to do something or may think they know what is best for you, but don’t forget that this is your life. You get to decide and you can do anything you set your mind to. And of course, listen to good advice from your environment, but don’t let this advice define you. I have been told by teachers not to go university and look at me now, four years later, with a master’s degree in my hands! Through g4g, I have met so many incredible, inspiring people and you can be incredible and inspiring too!

I want to finish with two quotes. The first one is by Bette Nesmith Graham, a secretary who invented liquid paper as a way to easily correct mistakes made with a typewriter. Graham claimed that “overcoming fear is all there is to success.” The second quote is one I’m sure you already know and that I have heard quite a few times in my time at g4g: “Anything is possible!”.

My name is Sarah Armstrong I am 18 years old and I am a greenlight for girls UK ambassador.

Back in 2015, I attended the g4g imperial event and ever since, I have always been around greenlight for girls. Greenlight for girls came into my life at a point where I was really struggling with my STEM based subjects at school and I was told enjoying a subject isn’t enough to pursue it into further education. However, after attending the event I was really inspired by the message communicated by g4g and realised that women in STEM was something I was passionate about.

STEM to me is important as it is driving the forefront of change in our society and I want to be a part of that change. From advancement in medicine, technology and to our everyday lives, STEM is something we can’t live without. And this is why now, 3 years later, I am going to be studying civil engineering at university!

Back in 2016, Sarah organized and led a STEM workshop day at a local primary school. On this photo, you can see her speaking in front of all the kids (far right of the picture).

One of my favourite part of working with g4g is seeing the confidence grow within the girls who attend the g4g events, and seeing a spark in interest and curious for STEM ; something a classroom environment wouldn’t be able to replicate as much.

g4g has given me countless opportunities, not only grow my own interest and helping me gain confidence but has given me the chance to travel to Brussels for an internship, run an event in my local primary school, but most importantly given me a chance to make a difference.

The event she organized with the help of a team of "science prefects" was made up of workshop focusing on 3 main areas, crumble zone, human biology and water.

There is a quote that really inspired me to pursue a career in stem, “she believed she could so she did” as I have learnt if you believe in yourself anything is possible, even a career in STEM.

After a few months of silence here, the g4g team is really pleased to announce that... the blog is alive again! Once a month you'll be able to read a summary of our events here, discover our new partnerships, get to know a wonderful scientist that inspired us or a truly terrific lady we just met, and be excited with us about all the new launches that await!

Without further ado, join us as we summarize everything that happened these last few months.

These were some of the questions girls posed to a diverse group of STEM professionals on stage in front of an audience of 350 people in Cincinnati on May 7. We love when our greenlight girls have the chance to interact with role model professionals in such a personal way, ask them questions to understand their stories, and feel inspired. These past six months, we’re thrilled to share that we have had over 15 events on 4 different continents,reaching more than 1800 curious girls with a passion for understanding and learning.

Some of our favourite moments have been…

When 395 girls got a chance to explore drones and robotics…chemistry and polymer worms… physics and waves… electronics and flying saucers and more… and then say it’s a great g4g Day with Nokia in Espoo, Tampere, and Oulu, Finland!!

When one of the girls made her own model of the lungs in a bottle and shouted “Everything is Science!” at our 3rd annual event at Bridgewater State University (BSU) in partnership with BSU Center for the Advancement of STEM Education in Massachusetts, USA!

When 65 girls learned how to weld with Stanley Black & Decker first with chocolate…then with power tools… at our SBD StemFest at UTC South Durham in the UK!

When 80 girls discovered biochemistry by creating their own personalized herbal spritz to prevent acne at our second g4g Day@SF Bay Area with Goa Sudharop. See the full photos album here

When 80 girls learned not to consume drinks of various sugar densities as they learned about astrophysics before extracting their human cheek cell sample at our very first launch of g4g Day @São Paulo with Covestro at the beautiful Museu Catavento!

When 320 girls got to touch a real brain and explore neuroscience at our g4g Day @Cincinnati in partnership with Procter & Gamble! After taking part in some of the 21 different hands-on activities, the girls got to use high-tech polling to measure feedback from the day. We’re proud to have had 94% of girls say that they are now more interested in STEM after our event – WOW!

When 50 girls had a glimpse of the various possibilities that the world of insurance offers, using M&M’s to learn about statistics, exploring virtual reality and realizing how cyber-security could be spooky at our first ever g4g@work Day at AIG in Frankfurt, Germany.

When 200 girls got to race through the Nokia campus with their caisses à savon, explore the Garage full of Nokia's innovations and discovered how 5G will bring life to a new tomorrow on our g4g Day in Paris-Saclay.

When, during our third g4g Day @Canberra, the group called "Evans-Galea girls" showed that you could be both incredibly good at drawing and be STEM curious! And because g4g Day @Canberra is our latest event, let's also celebrate the fact that this year, 150 girls took part in our event for National Science week in Australia!

And when dozens of young kids fueled their curiosity by making slime, discovering molecular cooking, building racing robotics and homemade rockets at our Makerspaces in Brussels, Belgium!

Pfew right ?!

Looking back at all these exciting events is always a bit nostalgic for us as we remember all the fun we had crafting unique events, coming up with new hands-on workshops and meeting all of you on the road. It also makes us realize that... we still have so much more we can do! We are super excited for the next events in Belgium, Poland and Spain, all in the next few weeks... Come back here to read more about the events and how September went!